High levels of exercise over time may cause stress on the arteries leading to higher CAC.

However this plaque buildup may well be of the more stable kind, and thus less likely to rupture and causes heart attack, which was not evaluated in this study.

It does not suggest that anyone should stop exercising.

Damn it!

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These people were split into three groups based on their physical activity patterns.

Group one exercised below the national guidelines of less than 150 minutes a week, group two met these guidelines and group three exercised three times above the national guidelines, over 450 minutes a week.

Those in the last group were 27 per cent more likely than those in the first group to develop CAC by middle age.

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The study also found that white men were at the highest risk being 86 per cent more likely to have CAC.

There were no higher odds of CAC for black participants in group three.

Although there was a similar trend for white women, it was not statistically significant.